I bet you thought I’d forgot you lovely people who read my blog, well I haven’t and never will! The marathon is this weekend and to be honest I’m shitting myself. Its the hottest day of the year so far and the weekend is meant to be sunny too. So now, not only do I have to worry about running 26 miles as one friend said “for no real reason” but now I have to lather up my shiny, bald napper with suncream.

So, thanks for reading and I will be in touch if and when I finish the marathon!

I had a plan, a cunning plan it was as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University. It didn’t work. Basically I read an interesting article on the world wide internet web about the run/walk strategy. Run for a bit, walk for a bit rather than trying to plod through the whole run non stop. I tried it, it was going swimmingly 9 minutes of running followed by a minute of walking. I was powering along, and then I bolloxed my foot. I don’t know what I’ve done, I don’t remember how I did it but it got sore, then numb, then I got pins and needles in it. I took my (absolutely honking) sock off and gave it a rub. I started up and managed about 5 minutes of running before I had to stop. I was 8 miles from home, cold, wet and annoyed.

You can guess from this post that I made it home but only just. I ran for a bit, I walked for a bit I hobbled a lot. The important thing is, I made the full 20 miles. I didn’t have any water with me so I’m confident that with proper hydration and the cheers and support of a crowd I’ll finish the race. I’m not so confident I’ll finish it under 4 1/2 hours like I originally hoped. After I moaned, groaned and cleaned up I checked the London Marathon results. Those elite runners are taking the piss, 2 fudging hours to run 26 miles how in the name of baby jesus and the orphans do they do it?

So I’m done with the big runs, apart from the obvious Big One. Next weekend is 10 miles then it gradually tapers down to 2 miles. They say that training is the hard part and there’s no doubt it is, but those extra 6 miles and 385 yards are going to be utter torture. I can safely say I never want to train for another marathon again!

As I updated my facebook page to get donations, and my donation page has a link here on it I thought I better fill you in. Don’t worry, I won’t turn up on your doorstep and punch your coupon in. Well, not unless you sponsor me. So the running is going well, I still don’t think I’ve recovered fully from my 16 mile trek the other week!

Last Sunday saw me out for an easy 10 mile run, and it was anything but easy. However, for the first time ever in this training programme I was out in just my shorts and tshirt. The sun was shining and it was a lovely morning, by the afternoon it was pissing with rain of course and it hasn’t stopped since but it is only British Summer Time, don’t expect too much! As the title suggests I have only really got 3 more big runs to do, and that includes the marathon. 18 miles this weekend, then 20 miles 2 weeks after that then my training runs drop right down to 2 miles a few days before The Big Race. Its a thought that should fill me with some positivity, however, I know how sore it was after 16 so each of those big runs is guaranteed to bring me severe pain and suffering, worse than childbirth by all accounts!

I am due to do a couple of small midweek runs this week, in fact this morning I was due to head out but truth be told I’ll be damned if I’m going out in the driving rain and howling wind. I’ve signed up for my last game of football before the marathon so that’ll be my training for this week. The easter weekend sees me off for 4 days so along with my 18 miler I may head out for another wee saunter at some point. My headphones broke, so I have fancy new sports ones bought from Argos for the grand price of 6 pounds. Money well spent. I’ve ditched the Nike+ tracks and am back to Girls Aloud’s Greatest Hits and the Top Gun soundtrack. Let the good times roll, except for Goose. Silly Goose. Until next time, toodleoo.

Going for a 4 mile run when I’ve recently started cycling 10 miles to work possibly wasn’t a great idea! The run was, as is the norm, uneventful 4 miles in 32 minutes and 28 seconds. I’m really beginning to tire of the scenery around us, and also the music on my ipod. Unfortunately the only time I remember to change the music is when I’m out running.

I’ve discovered a horrible new affect of running, the toxic 10 minutes, its as bad as it sounds! Its all to do with cold muscles and lactic acid I think, basically its the first couple of miles of a run you feel like stopping after each step. Your legs feel heavy and you just want to give up. So that’s the toxic 10 minutes to look forward to at the start, and the wall to look forward to after a good number of miles. I really do think I’ll just be running the one marathon in my lifetime!

Hello reader(s), so you may have noticed my silence of late. I put this down to two reasons, number one nobody is reading this blog and number two I was very busy at work as I had to finish things up before moving jobs! I’ve swapped lunchtime runs along Aberdeen ‘Pleasure’ beach for re-enacting Chariots of Fife by running along St Andrews beach, although I have yet to head out for a run, but I only started yesterday.

“How’s the training going?” I hear you ask, pretty well I think. I had my longest run of the training plan on Sunday, 14.15 miles, it took me 2 hours 16 minutes and 33 seconds. Quite a slow pace overall but after hitting the wall on the previous weeks’ 12 mile run I decided to take it easy. I managed to run without stopping, which is a good achievement but I’d have another 12 miles to run on the day. The enormity of this run really is beginning to hit home. Training is taking a bit of a hit as well, I don’t have showers available to use in the afternoon and a combination of activities and business trips over the next couple of weeks means I may have to rely on my weekend runs to keep me going. Thankfully this weekend is a paltry 6 mile run, I may get up early on Friday and go for a run after cycling into work. May.

My shorter runs have been going well, 3 miles at least twice a week, although I have now given up football on Thursday nights so should be able to get out for 3 short runs and one longer one. As the miles pick up, the trainers get even more wrecked looking, thankfully splashing through puddles is keeping them reasonably clean and fresh smelling!

My trainers are starting to look a bit tatty with all this training, at 85 quid a pop though I wont be replacing them before the big day! Usual route today, down to the blustery beach and back again. Still a few aches and pains from Sunday’s big run so my pace was a bit slow, 25 minutes 50 all in. This including waiting at a couple of pedestrian crossings! Nothing really happened, a few folk walked in front of me, it rained a bit and I got a cold head due to forgetting my hat. The Nike + music accompanied my run again, really liking it but just need to find a few more fast paced tracks to add to my ipod. That’s about it really, no readers = no effort to entertain you = no entertaining posts = no readers. Its a vicious circle!

Good god I’m sore! I did my longest run of the training schedule yesterday (looking at the schedule I’ll be using that line a lot!) which saw me run 11.27 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes and 27 seconds. I just did a couple of loops out around the country roads round here, after lap 1 I was within spitting distance of my house. It took a lot of willpower not to just give up and run home and relax. Instead I soldiered on and managed to run the entire distance. Since it was Valentine’s Day I took a detour down Lovers Lane but didn’t see any loving going on. My wife and I had a kid free night on Saturday night so went out for a few drinks and then got a curry on the way home. I couldn’t help but notice when I took it off that my sweat ladled tshirt had a distinctly curry smell to it. It was honking with a manly sweat aroma but coupled with the curry sweat, this really was a smell to savour. The wife didn’t agree!

I ache now though, my knees feel like they might break (although my dicky knee has held up well and isnt really sore), my thighs object (not literally) at every stair I have to go up and both Achilles hurt with every step I take. I really can’t wait to see what sort of state I’ll be in after the marathon, I might look into wheelchair hire though.

These Nike + running playlists are a bit shit it has to be said. The De La Soul one was awful, the LCD Soundsystem one had a couple of decent tracks but mostly it was just noise! Time to put The Best of Girls Aloud back onto the ipod.

Oh I weighed myself on Sunday morning and couldn’t believe it when the scales said 14 stone 6, so I weighed myself again this morning and I was bang on 14 stone. Stupid scales.